Under the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) deal between the companies, Sun will be able to “sell, preinstall and support Microsoft Windows servers across the entirety of our server product line,” said John Fowler, Sun Systems Group executive vice president.

“Sun has some exceptional platforms for building highly scaled environments, which will be extremely attractive, using SQL Server, Microsoft Exchange, as well as in the interactive television marketplace,” Sun’s Fowler said. He cited their work on AT&T’s television system as an example.

The companies will collaborate to make sure that Sun Solaris and Microsoft Windows work well together in virtualized computing environments, situations where companies run multiple operating systems on single pieces of hardware. Fowler noted that “100 percent of Sun’s customers use both Solaris and Windows.”

Along those lines, Microsoft and Sun are creating an “Interoperability Lab” on Microsoft’s Redmond campus. Andy Lees, corporate vice president of Microsoft’s Server & Tools Marketing and Solutions Group, said it will “make sure that products work effectively together.” He didn’t say how many people will work in the lab.